120
Recall too that, as she lies on the floor of the chapel, having been beaten and shot in the head, she spits at the Sheriff, and he refers to her as a “tall drink of cocksucker.” Again, as a “cocksucker,” she’s a receptacle, but that she spits (as opposed to swallowing) might be indicative of her resistance to being one, even in that early, comatose state.
121
The Biblical passage that Jules quotes is from a Sonny Chiba movie.
122
See
Fight Club
(David Fincher, 1999).
6
See Section 125, “The Madman” in
The Gay Science
, translated by Walter Kaufmann (New York: Random House, 1974).
123
This chapter originally appeared on
Metaphilm.com
in two parts: “
Kill Bill: Volume 1
, Violence as Therapy,” November 12th, 2003; and “
Kill Bill: Volume 2
, Mommy Kills Daddy,” April 26th, 2004.
124
The idea that we never see what’s in the briefcase that is central to much of the film comes from one of Buñuel’s films,
Belle de Jour
. The Buñuel quote is from
My Last Sigh
(New York: Knopf, 1983), p. 171.
125
This theme runs throughout Nietzsche’s work, but it is especially important to
Beyond Good and Evil
and
On The Genealogy of Morals.
See, for example,
Genealogy
Preface, p. 6: “We need a
critique
of moral values,
the value of these values themselves must first be called into question
.”
126
Talk of “symptoms” is one of Nietzsche’s favorite metaphors. See, for example,
Twilight of the Idols
II, p. 2.
127
See, for example,
Genealogy
III, especially Section 11.
128
See
Beyond Good and Evil
, Section 43.
129
See, for example, all of
Genealogy
III, and
Twilight of the Idols
V, p. 1.
130
The Will to Power
, Section 22.
131
Or you could escape on “Grace” like Butch, gaining redemption by returning to free Marsellus. We don’t mean to claim that the Nietzschean redemption of Jules is the only theme in the film.
132
Though note that being a shepherd is not a final state that Zarathustra stays in. It is one of the stages he passes through in his continual state of over-coming. But the point is that Nietzsche was not afraid of re-appropriating religious concepts. The name “Zarathustra” itself is a reference to another religion, Zoroastrianism.
133
For example, see
Zarathustra
II, p. 20, and
The Antichrist
, Section 33.
134
Human All-Too-Human
I, p. 638.
135
See for example the review of the Dalai Lama’s
The Art of Happiness
by Richard Bernstein (
New York Times
, October 7th, 1999).
136
The Butterfly Effect
, directed by Bress and Gruber, 2004. Alternately, one could have recognized the concept in the Ray Bradbury story “A Sound of Thunder,” in
The Golden Apples of the Sun
(New York: Bantam, 1970), pp. 88-100.
137
Directs, as opposed to writes or produces. He wrote
From Dusk Till Dawn
(directed by Robert Rodriguez, 1996) and executive-produced
Hostel
and
Hostel: Part II
(both directed by Eli Roth, 2005 and 2007) each of which were linear.
138
Directed by Oliver Stone, 1994.
139
On the superficial perception of reality Buddhism recognizes nature and nurture as significant factors that can be overcome by a deeper perception of reality.
140
Buddha Nature is a complicated concept in Buddhism. For further reading see B. King Sallie,
Buddha Nature
(New York: State University of New York Press, 2007).
141
These divergent paths are a source of tension in Buddhism. See for example Sam Van Schaik,
Approaching the Great Perfection
(Somerville: Wisdom, 2004).
142
There’s a story in Buddhism of Angulimala, a killer turned Buddhist monk. When the relatives of his victims attacked and eventually killed him, he did not fight back, having undergone an inner transformation. For a modern account see Satish Kumar,
The Buddhist and the Terrorist: The Story of Angulimala
(Totnes: Green Books, 2005).
Volume 29 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy
®
, edited by George A. Reisch
Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company.
Copyright © 2007 by Carus Publishing Company
First printing 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, a division of Carus Publishing Company, 315 Fifth Street, P.O. Box 300, Peru, Illinois, 61354-3000.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quentin Tarantino and philosophy : how to philosophize with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch / edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad.
p. cm.—(Popular culture and philosophy ; v. 29)
Summary: “A collection of essays that addresses philosophical aspects of the films of Quentin Tarantino, focusing on topics in ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, language, and cultural identity”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN : 978-0-812-69709-4
1. Tarantino, Quentin—Criticism and interpretation. I. Greene,
Richard, 1961- II. Mohammad, K. Silem.
PN1998.3.T358Q46 2007
791.4302’33092—dc22
2007035105